The document which we are displaying is a letter from Victor Hugo acknowledging receipt of shares bought from the National Bank of Belgium. Victor Hugo was born at Besançon in 1802 and died in Paris in 1885 at the age of 83. He is the most important of the French romantic authors. Hugo produced a very diverse range of works, writing stories, lyrical poetry, plays in verse and prose, political speeches and a great many letters.
Letter from Victor Hugo to his wife
In the summer of 1837, Victor Hugo travelled to Belgium for the first time. After enjoying the splendour of Mons, he travelled to Brussels and went into raptures at the sight of the Grand-Place and the windows of Sainte-Gudule cathedral. He was so enthralled by the beauty of the city that the next day he wrote to his wife, saying that he was “totally dazzled by Brussels“. He favoured a number of Belgian towns with a visit: Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges and Ostend. Three years later he preferred to visit towns in Wallonia: Dinant, Namur, Liège and Verviers.
Elected to the French legislative assembly in May 1849, Victor Hugo believed in the republic as the only form of government permitting the advance of progressive ideas. On 2 December 1851, the Prince-President Louis-Napoleon seized power by a coup d’état. Victor Hugo was forced to leave France because, as a member of the resistance committee, he had a price on his head. He crossed the Franco-Belgian border disguised as a workman, with a false passport in the name of Jacques Firmin Lanvin. In 1852, Victor Hugo left Belgium and lived in exile on the British islands of Jersey and Guernsey, though he made numerous trips to and fro between Brussels and Guernsey. The poet worked continuously and became the symbol of the Republic’s battle against the Empire, taking a stand at every opportunity, via the press and in his own works, arguing in favour of better social justice, peace and freedom for oppressed peoples, and against the death penalty…
In a letter to his wife Adèle, he describes his life in exile in Brussels as austere and modest. He takes care not to spend any more than is strictly necessary. He writes: “As for expenditure, I have to be extremely frugal since the future is so very uncertain, and resources which appear to be perfectly secure may fail to materialise or be late in coming. I myself live on 100 francs a month. These are my daily outgoings: rent: 1 franc, lunch (a cup of chocolate): 0.50 franc, dinner 1.25 francs, heating: 0.25 franc, total: 3 francs. That comes to 90 francs a month. The rest goes on laundry, tips, etc.” However, the document displayed here shows that Hugo’s financial situation was not as precarious as all that.
Letter in which Victor Hugo acknowledges receipt of National Bank shares
In 1851, the poet became one of the major shareholders in the National Bank, buying 168 shares. How was it possible for Victor Hugo, on arriving in Brussels, to convert his capital into shares in the National Bank when that institution had only just been established? Some people think that it was the Prime Minister Charles Rogier, a friend of the writer, who recommended that he purchase these shares. Others suggest that Hugo followed the advice of the burgomaster, Charles de Brouckère, who – as a director of the Banque de Belgique – was well able to judge the soundness of the investment.
When the poet’s fortunes improved, thanks to the success of “Les Misérables“, his earnings enabled him to increase his number of shares. In 1862, he held 231; in 1863, 239; in 1865, 271; in 1866, 289 and on 27 September 1867 he reached a total of 300. In 1872, following the amendment of the statutes of the National Bank and the increase in its capital, the poet became the owner of 600 shares. He was then in second place on the list of shareholders, which reads at n°2 “Mr Victor Hugo, man of letters, resident in Guernsey“. At the same time, he bought 70 shares in the name of Juliette Drouet, his mistress. In 1881, she decided to return them to him. Juliette exchanged several letters with the Governor regarding this transfer. On 3 September the National Bank received an envelope containing the shares, the authorisations and a request for a certificate of ownership. The Governor responded by sending a certificate for 670 shares. Immediately afterwards, Victor Hugo acknowledged receipt by the letter displayed here. On the basis of the price on the Brussels stock exchange on 29 August 1881, the value of all the shares held by Victor Hugo came to over two million francs, which would represent a substantial capital sum today.
Following the fall of the Second Empire, the Third Republic was set up and Victor Hugo was able to return to Paris. He went back to Belgium in March 1871 to deal with his son’s inheritance. However, on 30 May 1871 the love affair between Victor Hugo and Belgium came to an abrupt end: King Leopold II ordered his expulsion on the grounds of harbouring communards who were being hunted down in the French capital. The next day, Hugo left Belgium, never to return. In all, he had spent almost a thousand days in Belgium.
Marie Lamoureux
Museum guide
Sources: J. Camby, Victor Hugo en Belgique, Paris, ed. L’Ecran du Monde, 1935; H. JUIN, Victor Hugo 1844-1870, Paris, ed. Flammarion, 1984; BNB-NBB Revue de la Banque nationale de Belgique, February, 1948, pp. 4 – 9; [1] BNF, Manuscripts, NAF 13391, fol. 107v° – 108 © Bibliothèque nationale de France/Gallica.
